TOKYO (Reuters) — In the first
confirmation of a criminal investigation at Mt. Gox, the failed
Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange said on Wednesday it was working with the
police "with regard to the disappearance" of bitcoins worth some $490
million at current prices.

Mt. Gox said in a brief statement on its website that it had
submitted records and documents to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police as
part of its civil rehabilitation application. A police spokesman
declined to comment and said no announcements were planned.

Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo on February 28,
saying 750,000 bitcoins belonging to its customers and 100,000 of
its own bitcoins were stolen by hackers who exploited a security
flaw in its software. It also said $28 million were "missing" from
its Japanese bank accounts.

It was not immediately clear if the police investigation was looking
into those missing funds. A representative on a helpline for Mt. Gox
creditors told Reuters the exchange had been working with the police
as of "two days ago." Lawyers for Mt. Gox were not immediately
available to comment.

A court-appointed administrator is due to report by Friday on a
month-long examination into Mt. Gox and determine whether the
exchange can be rehabilitated or should be liquidated.

Mt. Gox has also filed for bankruptcy protection in the United
States after U.S. customers with funds and bitcoin frozen at Mt. Gox
began a class-action against the exchange, alleging fraud by the
company and its 28-year old CEO, Mark Karpeles. Another class-action
suit was filed in Canada on March 16, alleging a lengthy security
breach resulted in "the pilfering of millions of dollars' worth of
Mt. Gox users' bitcoins."

Both lawsuits also named Mizuho Bank Ltd, one of Japan's largest
lenders, for allegedly aiding in a fraud by providing banking
services to Mt. Gox. The plaintiffs say their money was held in an
account or accounts at Mizuho. The bank has previously declined to
comment on the lawsuits.

Last week, Mt. Gox said it had found 200,000 "forgotten" bitcoins — nearly a quarter of those missing — on March 7 in an old format
"wallet" that it had thought was empty. That came after a U.S. judge
in Chicago overseeing the U.S. class-action allowed some of Mt.
Gox's bitcoin movements to be tracked.

U.S. federal investigators are working multiple theories and have
yet to rule out the possibility of involvement by someone inside Mt.
Gox, a person with knowledge of that investigation has said.

Mt. Gox creditors had anticipated a different announcement on
Wednesday after Eren Canarslan, a Turkish investment banker who said
he had been in touch with Karpeles, tweeted that Mt. Gox would soon
announce it had found an additional 670,000 bitcoins.

(Additional reporting by Emily Flitter in New
York and Tom Hals in
Delaware; editing by Ian Geoghegan)